(PEOPLE.com) -- In light of some media coverage of their daughter Alexa Ray Joel's recent hospital stay, her parents, Billy Joel and Christie Brinkley, have issued the following statement. In its entirety, it reads:

Every parent can imagine the pain and anguish we face as parents of a daughter who is working to recover from the dangerous actions she took while suffering a devastating heartbreak. As much as we hate dignifying tabloid stories with a response, we feel we must set the record straight to protect our family.

The story that ran in the New York Post on December 8, and has been subsequently spread across the Internet, is filled with vicious lies and attempts to smear our character and that of our beloved daughter. We ask the public and legitimate media outlets to please "consider the source" and to not further exacerbate our daughter's situation by repeating and legitimizing these false reports.